TorCHI
Join us in person at the DGP Lab (Bahen Centre on U of T campus)!
This talk presents a theory for the design of interactive systems based on cognitive neuroscience called Interactive Inference. Based on the neuroscience theory of Active Inference, it elegantly explains how users process tasks by first predicting the world around them, then choosing to learn or act when their predictions do not correspond with their observations. I will discuss how quantifying the amount of surprise in a task can produce elegant behavioural laws that appear to be governing user performance and error, including Fitts’ Law. Surprise is the amount of information processed when performing a task that brings the world closer to the state you predicted. In this talk, I will show how it appears to also function as a physics equation, e.g., describing potential energy when planning movements. I will conclude with some examples of how the study of surprise might lead to more intelligent interactive systems.
Bio: Dr. Roel Vertegaal is a Professor of Human-Computer Interaction and director of the Human Media Lab at Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He was trained as an interaction designer, computer scientist, cognitive scientist and electronic musician. His inventions include the foldable phone, foldable laptop, the iPhone's attention-aware user interface, light field video conferencing, interactive drone swarms and many more. His work also features many empirical contributions. Roel authored over 150 refereed scientific articles and patents, and his work is featured widely in the popular press. In 2022, Roel was elected to the ACM SIGCHI Academy for his contributions to the field of Human-Computer Interaction.
LOCATION (In-person event)
DGP Lab, Room 5187 (5th floor), Bahen Centre for IT (google maps) 40 St. George St., Toronto
Closest subway stations: Queens Park station OR Spadina station
@TorCHI